April 14, 2003

Ruth Robbins
UDUBNation.com

Chris Singleton is one Husky who continues to exemplify what the word "Team" means. Singleton, who was the source of much discussion last season when the Husky running game was faltering so badly, has shown himself to be--not only patient--but also extremely determined. This could be the year it all pays off on the field...

"I feel like I'm making progress", Singleton said following Saturday's scrimmage at Husky Stadium, "Today I felt like I was playing sluggish because I had a partial sprained knee last Saturday, so I'm still playing on that".

But there's just no quit in Chris Singleton--perhaps other running backs might have become disgruntled over lack of legitimate playing time. Last year the Huskies strained to try and have something resembling a running attack all season. Rich Alexis struggled as did Braxton Cleman. Singleton waited his chance to get into the game and demonstrate, perhaps, one of the more pure running styles of all 3 backs. But then fell under criticism due to an alleged problem with blocking. Even after Rick Neuheisel denied that there was any doubts in Singleton's blocking abilities, this continued to be a popular myth in the press regarding Singleton.

"I feel that my blocking is real good and my strength is good--but ever since Oregon State, I lost some strength in my left shoulder", Singleton of the game he left due to this slight injury, "It's still not up to 100% strength wise, but it's coming back."

Singleton participated in track during the early part of spring, where he had a 23 foot long jump, and his 40 time has remained one of the fastest on the team (4.3), "I added some weight during track", he said, "I was up to 210, now I'm at 206."

The fact is, the running back position is deep with speed and talent right now--whether or not that will translate onto the field during the regular season is still up in the air--but with Singleton, Alexis, James and Sampson, the potential for a solid ground game is very real this coming season. And even with the competitiveness of this position, there is still a great deal of commeraderie amongst--what Singleton calls--the "G-Unit". (stands for "Ground Unit")

"There's no hate in this group", he said, despite the competitiveness within the running back ranks, "With Kenny and Shelton and Rich, we're the unit. We support eachother out there and we support eachother when we're not out there."

"I put a lot of work into the game and I put a lot of work into when I'm not on the field", Singleton said, "So everything--when it comes together--it's going to be real pretty."

Chris Singleton's Bio:

42 Chris Singleton
TB--6-0--206
Junior--Two Letters
Fontana, CA
Etiwanda High School

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The only healthy back with game experience for Washington's Spring Drills--one of three players to see regular season action at tailback in 2002--an Honorable Mention Academic All Pac-10 selection--Made two starts at tailback against UCLA and Oregon State--third on the team with 224 rushing yards, had his best game against UCLA--rushing for 92 yards on 20 carries. Went for 33 yards on eight carries and scored his lone TD of the year in the Arizona State game.

High School and Personal: Born Nov. 4, 1982 in West Covina, Calif. ... parents are Lorraine and Joe ... is youngest of four siblings ... named Mount Baldy League MVP with 2,043 yards rushing and 18 TDs in 2000 ... finished his career with 4,517 yards rushing and 44 TDs ... a SuperPrep and PrepStar All-American ... PrepStar?s No. 3 running back in the West Region ... ranked 21st on PrepStar?s Western Region ?Super 30? list ... ranked 16th in SuperPrep?s CA/HI 130 ... received four of a possible five stars from Rivals.com ...nominated for the Wendy's High School Heisman ... a member of the Tacoma News-Tribune?s ?Western 100? team ... an all-CIF selection as a senior ... earned CalHiSports.com All-State honorable mention honors ... named Area Offensive MVP by the Inland Valley Times ... a San Bernardino County All-Star ... carried for 270 yards in win over Ayala as a senior ... majoring in business administration.

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